Former PR in Geneva warns Sri Lanka of UN-US project

Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Tamara Kunanayakam yesterday said recent attacks on Muslims had helped advance the UN-US agenda in respect of Sri Lanka.

The attacks coincided with the sessions of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the return of the US Peace Corps to the country and the arrival of the UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, a former US Assistant Secretary of State and none of the foregoing was fortuitous to Sri Lanka, she said.

Addressing a media briefing at the National Library and Documentation Services Board called by Eliya, a civil society organisation set up by former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Kunanayakam said that attacks only helped advance Feltman’s agenda, which was inseparable from that of Washington.

"Feltman is a neo-conservative hawk, who has been involved in breaking up sovereign states into ethnic enclaves. Within the UN, he is also responsible for a team working on constitutional arrangements promoting federalism as a response to ethnic minority grievances."

The situation here gave the UN Human Rights High Commissioner the opportunity to threaten Sri Lanka with universal jurisdiction if it failed to make progress in accountability and transitional justice. His choice of language was to target only the previous Government under Mahinda Rajapaksa, to strengthen Washington’s allies within the present regime, and to advance Washington’s project to gain international legitimacy for its unilateral interventions in the internal affairs of other States, Kunanayakam has said.